


Shadow

by nekojita



Series: Dragon!Andrew [6]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Bad Parenting, Curses, Demons, Dragons, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Magic, Magic-Users, Shapeshifting, andrew is still bigger than everyone else, don't sing THAT song near neil, mostly - Freeform, neil is still putting up with an awful lot, not much time for baking unfortunately
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 23:03:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9464453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekojita/pseuds/nekojita
Summary: A continuation of my fairytale/fantasy Dragon!Andrew AU - winter has ended and that means the home Andrew and Neil have made is no longer quite so secure. Some promises were made that people are determined to fulfill, bringing about more than just a change of seasons for the two.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, it's more Dragon!Andrew!!! Yes, I know, it's not the last chapter of Armies, for those who follow that fic (sorry! I hit a block on the last few pages and needed to shake things up, so I shifted gears and worked on this instead), but it's Dragon!Andrew! Who isn't happy to have Andrew-as-a-dragon?
> 
> This shakes the plot up a little, and you might be happy with some of the characters who appear. Well, with some of them. We shall see.
> 
> One day, I would like to write something that doesn't turn into this massively plotted-out, LONG story. ONE DAY.
> 
> It's not that day.
> 
> I don't even think it's that damn year.
> 
> *sighs*  
> *******

*******

Neil stood in the courtyard with Andrew's tail wrapped loosely around his body and his lover looming above him while Matt checked the straps to Tundra's saddle yet again. "Are you sure that you'll be all right?" he asked yet again. "I can-"

/You're leaving today or you and that meal on legs are about to be roasted,/ Andrew threatened, not for the first time. Or the third. He even backed it up with a few sparks that time.

"We'll be fine," Neil sighed as he made a shooing motion. "Now get going before it starts raining." Winter had finally let up, which meant that the rainy season wasn't far behind.

"All right," Matt said with a slight chuckle, "I can take the hint. But I'll be back by summer to check up on you." He finally left Tundra's saddle alone and made to step forward, his arms held open as if to hug Neil, and was stopped short with a face full of smoke which left him coughing for about a minute. "So... not gonna miss that," he wheezed once he was finished.

/So not going to miss _you_ ,/ Andrew told him. /Now _go_./

"See you in the summer," Matt told Neil. "And remember, you're always welcome at the Foxhole Court. _Both_ of you," he stressed.

"Thanks," Neil said as he waved goodbye, and he meant that; he couldn't imagine too many places - well, _any_ places - that would welcome someone cursed into dragon form and a person with so much demon blood, especially when they were wanted by the Moriyamas, but he knew that Matt was earnest in the offer. Still, he and Andrew had no intention of leaving their home.

If only they would be left in peace.

The end of winter meant that Matt could finally leave the mountain fortress and return to Palmetto... but it also meant that others could now reach the old fort and renew their attempts to 'rescue' Neil from the 'monster' that had 'kidnapped' him, according the pack of lies that Riko had spread. Only now, since Neil and Andrew had been handfasted in an attempt to gain control over Neil's magic, he had a feeling that Riko would probably raise the reward money and give the knights instructions to bring Neil back to them along with proof of Andrew’s death.

They'd needed to rein in his power somehow, and it wasn't as if Neil hadn't intended to remain with Andrew for the rest of his life anyway. That he didn't trust his entire being - body and magic - to Andrew. It was just now, with the possibility of Riko throwing all of the might of the Moriyamas at the man he- at Andrew that he grew worried over what they'd done would mean for them.

The two of them returned into the fort, where they curled up in the main room so Neil could read to Andrew, and he tried not to think about how quiet the place was without Matt stomping around, laughing about things or asking questions. Though he had to admit that Andrew seemed more relaxed once it was just the two of them, and Neil was able to enjoy a long soak that night without worrying about a curious knight tracking him down and interrupting his bath.

"No more knights," Andrew told him after the sun had gone down and he'd adjusted to the return of his human body once more. "I don't care where they're from or if they're supposedly harmless, if they're good at repairs or what, they can find a cave to hibernate in for the winter and that's that.”

Neil smiled at his disgruntled lover when Andrew settled on their bed. "You have to admit that the place is in great shape now." Well, relatively speaking; the roof no longer leaked and the floors were whole once more, the windows all patched up and for the most part, there were less drafts than there had been in previous winters.

" _No. More_ ," Andrew declared while giving him a flat look. "Learn carpentry as a hobby or something, if you want the place to look all nice."

"Like I have that much spare time on my hands," Neil complained as he shoved at the tyrant's right shoulder, only to find himself shoved onto his back in return. "Who spends their day lounging around in the sunbeams while I bake and do laundry and find us food?"

Andrew loomed over him, a faint spark of red in his hazel eyes. “Your life sounds so hard. Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?”

“Perish the thought,” Neil scoffed as he pressed the palm of his hands against Andrew’s bare chest; despite his enhanced strength, his lover couldn’t be budged – not that Neil was trying that hard, to be honest. He pushed just enough to make Andrew arch an eyebrow at his efforts.

“Is that a ‘no’?”

“It’s an ‘are you going to bitch all night?’” Neil informed the bastard, and smiled when Andrew leaned in closer.

“I’ll wait until morning to continue, not that it does any good with an idiot like you,” Andrew murmured against Neil’s lips.

“That’s still bitching,” Neil pointed out, right before he was kissed. He managed a quick grumble, the sound in articulate, before he had better things to do like kiss back, to arch his body as Andrew’s warm hands stroked along it, as they slipped beneath his tunic then pulled it over his head.

Soon they both were naked on the bed, with Neil spread out beneath Andrew as his lover made him forget all his worries and complaints, when all there was for him to do was feel the wonderful pleasure that Andrew could wring out of him. He rocked his hips into each of Andrew’s steady thrust as his teeth lightly skimmed along his lover’s neck and smiled at the resulting flare of magic, at the flash of red in those beautiful hazel eyes then moaned when Andrew snapped his hips even faster. Neil let the pleasure consume him, to dominate his senses until they burned with it, with Andrew, trusting in his lover to keep him whole even when breaking him apart in the best way.

Afterward, when they had washed off and curled back in the bed, Neil found Andrew staring off at the fire as he lay on the bed, one arm tucked behind his head and the other resting on the center of his chest – on the spot where Neil felt an odd tugging whenever Andrew used Neil’s magic. “Half-penny for your thought?” he offered.

Andrew sniffed at that while his fingers tapped against his chest. “Just thinking about how quiet it is again.” He turned to look at Neil. “You lost your hunting buddy.”

“I shouldn’t have to hunt as much now that he’s gone,” Neil reminded Andrew. “Unless you’re that big a fan of rabbit stew.” Personally, Neil was sick of it at that point. “Though it might be worth eating more of it just to see _you_ try to make a snare and clean the catch, you lazy bastard.”

Judging from the hand shoved in his face right then, he’d say that Andrew much preferred his sweet bread and pies. “Go to sleep, you’re babbling more nonsense than usual,” Andrew sneered as he closed his eyes, which seemed to put an end to that discussion.

Matt was indeed gone, but Neil was content to slip back into the familiar everyday pattern he'd established with Andrew, with them never being too far from each other except when he went foraging for food, with the world contracting down to just the two of them once again. They kept an eye out for Riko's people, but on the whole... on the whole they enjoyed the peace and quiet, enjoyed having each other there without any interruptions. It was times like the moment that made Neil wish that the rest of the world would just leave them alone.

Almost two weeks after Matt had left, their solitude finally was broken by Nicky and Aaron. Neil and Andrew were out in the courtyard so Andrew could 'practice' with Neil's magic, could attempt to draw upon a little of it to blow up a piece of wood, when the sound of horses approaching made Andrew's attention grow lax and his control slip.

"Andrew!" Neil gasped when his power flared, which resulted in a large crater appearing in the courtyard and his vision darkening for several seconds. When he could see once more, he was wrapped in Andrew's tail to help steady him on his feet as well as one of his lover's wings, and closed his eyes again as he rested his head against Andrew's left foreleg; it always wore on him, when Andrew pulled more than just a thin stream of power from him.

/Oops./

"Yeah... _oops_ ,” Neil agreed, too tired to do much more than that at the moment. He managed a wan smile when he felt Andrew nuzzle his hair, then groaned when he heard Nicky's excited voice call out their names.

"Andrew! Neil! What in the myriad _hells_ have you been up to this winter? Do you know what they're saying about you now? It's all over the kingdoms about-"

/Shut up,/ Andrew told his cousin, and judging from the smell of smoke, had backed it up with a bit of a warning. Neil opened his eyes to find Nicky gaping at them while Aaron stood a dozen or so feet away with the nervous horses, his expression blank while he surveyed the nice large crater in the courtyard.

"Problems?" he asked his brother as he began to unbuckle the nearest horse.

/Not really,/ Andrew said as his tail twitched around Neil. /What took you so long?/

"Eh, are you all right?" Nicky asked Neil while he sidled a little closer rather than answer the question right away, glancing back and forth between him and Andrew. "You look a bit pale."

"I'm fine," Neil said, then wheezed as Andrew's tail tightened a lot. "Leggo, dammit." He smacked at the appendage and got a face full of smoke himself, but the tyrant finally eased up.

"Uhm, we had to get a few ingredients for the spell and the roads were muddy and... well, you know what they're saying about you, right?" For some reason, Nicky's question made Aaron grab the sorrel mare's bridle and haul her toward the barn in a hurry. "That... uhm, well." Nicky's face turned a mottled red. "Look, I know it's not true, it's not even _possible_ , what they're saying, but everyone seems to be talking about it and some people even seem to believe that shit."

Neil sighed as he wavered on his feet for a moment, his hand on Andrew's foreleg to help steady him, and then he began to head into the fort. "That me and Andrew, uhm, we're-" He really, _really_ hated Riko just then.

/Well, we are,/ Andrew said as he must have grown impatient with Neil's slow pace and picked him up with his tail to carry him inside.

"But not like _that_ ," Neil sputtered. "Not when you're like _this_." How did people even think they- on second thought, Neil decided he didn't want to know.

"Exactly," Nicky said, and gave a slight shudder as he came up alongside Neil. "I mean, I'm all for a good bawdy song, but _that_ one scarred me for life."

"I don't want to hear any more," Neil warned, well and done with the current topic. "Not. Another. Word."

Nicky was quiet as he watched Andrew set Neil on the counter then start the oven. "So, is there something you want to tell me? Because the last I saw the two of you, there weren't huge chunks missing from the mountain and people weren't-"

" _Not. Another. Word_ ," Neil repeated, that time with his magic hazing his vision silver, the drain on his strength bedamned.

"Okay, okay!" Nicky yelped as he held up his hands. "But seriously, I feel like I'm missing something big here."

Neil sighed as he rubbed at his aching forehead as he thought about that ‘something big’. "Ah, well, kinda. Andrew and I got handfasted because my demon blood is making my ma-"

" _What_!" Nicky gaped at the two of them after shrieking loud enough to make Neil's ears hurt and Andrew let loose a flurry of sparks. "You got handfasted without me being there?" Of course _that_ was the important thing that Nicky had caught.

/It wasn't planned, you moron,/ Andrew told his cousin while whapping him on the back with his tail, which made Nicky stumble forward.

"Yes, exactly." Neil sighed as he reached into the cabinet near him for the tin of tea leaves, which was nearly empty. "Apparently, since I'm, err, well, thanks to my father, my magic was going out of control and Matt's friends suggested the handfasting as a way to rein it in." He brushed his fingers along the raven tattoo on his cheek for a moment before he closed the wooden door. "I've a feeling we've Riko to 'thank' for those rumors as he'd sent some of his people up here a month ago to take me back by force, and Matt told them about Andrew and me."

Nicky's pout changed into indignation upon hearing the rather brief summation of what had happened. "Can he be any bigger of an asshole?" Neil didn't answer that because yes, Riko could indeed if given a chance, in his experience.

"So, the two of you finally did it," Nicky said after about a minute of quiet, while Neil managed to put on a pot of tea without getting down from the counter, something he had long experience with after two years of living with Andrew. "That means we're cousins now!" he told Neil while grinning, and succeeded in grabbing a quick hug before being whapped away.

/Why are you here?/ Andrew asked as he shoved Nicky toward the door.

"We brought honey and sweet bread," Nicky reminded his cousin, and smiled when Andrew curled up near Neil rather than continue to chase him away. "I thought so."

"Thought what?" Aaron asked as he came into the kitchen, loaded down with several bags of supplies. "That they're both idiots?" He was saved for the time being because of the supplies, but there was a gleam in Andrew's hazel eyes just then that hinted at a future singeing for Aaron later.

"Andrew and Neil are handfasted!" Nicky sang out. "Neil's officially family!"

"Great, another freak in the family, and a dumb one at that," Aaron muttered as he headed toward the larder. "Why would he give up his family's wealth for a rundown- _fuck_."

The tug on his magic was the only warning Neil had before the door to the larder disintegrated into dust in front of Aaron, while a furious Andrew loomed behind the earth mage, eyes glowing bright and wings half-spread while sparks rained down with each exhale. /What was that?/ Andrew asked, his mental voice deceptively mild just then.

"Neil," Nicky whispered, the blood drained from his face as he made frantic motions toward his cousins, but Neil merely shook his head; first, he wasn't certain if he could stand up just then, and second, it wouldn't be wise to get in Andrew's way when he was like that. Part of it was the dragon inside of Andrew reacting to the insult, so Neil was staying out of his lover's sight rather than riling it up even more.

Aaron seemed to realize that he'd stepped too far over the line and set the bags down before slowly facing his brother, his expression mostly blank except for the tightness around his eyes and mouth. "Okay, I shouldn't have said that about his family, but you have to admit that the two of you will never be normal." He managed to look his brother in the eyes while he spoke, and after a few seconds, Andrew huffed once and then appeared to calm down enough to no longer want to commit fratricide.

/We’re taking a nap,/ he said as he spun around, his tail nearly knocking Aaron into the wall before coiling around Neil. Figuring that it would be best if they went somewhere else for a little while, Neil didn’t say anything, just nodded to Nicky and allowed himself to be carried into the main room where he was deposited with care on the pile of pillows and tucked against his lover’s side with a golden wing draped over him, almost covering him completely.

He gave Andrew a minute or two to settle, then let out a slow breath. “I chose you,” he reminded the stubborn fool while he stroked his fingers along the silk-like skin of his lover’s wing. “It’s only ever been you.” He’d been over the entire continent while running from his father, and no one had made him feel anything like Andrew had – and that was when the bastard was in dragon form. Neil felt his cheeks heat up when he thought about what Andrew made him feel once the curse had been weakened enough for him to revert back to his human form for a short while.

Andrew was quiet for a few more seconds and then huffed as he lowered his head, his long neck curling on top of his folded paws until he could look at Neil. /You really are an idiot./

“Tell me about it,” Neil grumbled, but he still smiled as he let the exhaustion wearing at him from Andrew drawing on his magic wash over him, as he closed his eyes and listened to the thunderous beats of Andrew’s heart and knew that he was safe with his lover watching over him.

He woke a few more hours later, feeling better for the rest and to find Nicky sitting nearby as he talked to Andrew, his voice pitched low so as not to bother Neil. The air mage smiled at Neil when he noticed that he’d woken up, and Andrew pulled his wing back so Neil could get up and sit between his lover’s front paws instead.

“Feeling a bit better now?” Nicky asked; it looked as if he’d changed his clothes and there was a glass of apple brandy in his hands.

“Yes.” Neil craned his neck to look up at Andrew. “You didn’t kill Aaron while I was sleeping, did you?”

/Not yet,/ Andrew said, amusement evident from the way his eyes gleamed and tail came around to flick at Neil’s chin.

“Why the hell am I bothering to help the two of you again?” Aaron called out as he entered the banquet hall while carrying two mugs, one of which he handed to Neil. Grateful for the tea, Neil nodded to… ah, were they really related now? That was… he wasn’t going to think about that just yet.

“Because they’re family,” Nicky said while he frowned at his cousin, as if picking up on Neil’s thoughts. “We were just talking about the spell,” he told an unsettled Neil. “About how we were researching it all winter with some help from Renee’s notes and we want to try a few things.”

“Okay.” Neil trusted that the paladin knew what she was doing, considering how she’d been able to figure out things with his bloodline and all. “What are they?”

“We’re going to wait for the full moon in a couple of days, since that’s supposed to be good for transformation spells,” Aaron said. “So we’ll rest up before we do the casting.”

Neil once again glanced up at Andrew and found his lover to be calm, which was a good sign. “It sounds good, though I’m not the expert.” He only really knew about offensive spells, stuff like the nasty tricks he’d built into the wards over the winter to help bolster the defenses in preparation of Riko sending more people after him and Andrew, about ways to destroy things and to cast illusions.

Nicky’s grin widened. “You’ll see, I’ve a good feeling about this!”

After that, he talked about what he and Erik had done during the winter while Neil sipped his tea, and after the beverage was gone, Neil got up to prepare something for dinner. Nicky went with him into the kitchen, which left the twins in the main hall. Neil was a little uncertain about that, but they seemed to have made peace while he’d been sleeping.

He brewed some more tea before he checked the larder, which Nicky and Aaron had restocked during his nap and Aaron had managed to replace the door, probably from one of the empty rooms on the first floor. When Neil looked over at Nicky while opening it, his friend shrugged. “He felt guilty about the whole thing.”

“I wonder why.” Neil went into the storage room and fetched some sweet bread, honey and preserves for Andrew’s meal, and a large loaf of wheat bread, cheese and cured ham for the rest of them since he didn’t feel up to cooking that night.

Nicky winced a little at his tone but didn’t argue. “I told you before that he found someone, right?” He waited for Neil to nod. “Well, it’s starting to get serious and he’s worried. It didn’t help that he came back here and found the two of you handfasted.”

That didn’t make sense to Neil. “So he’s blaming us because he’s worried about his own relationship?”

“Not… oh, I don’t know.” Nicky grabbed the ham and cheese so he could cut off some chunks for their meal. “The two of you are content up here, that much is obvious, and you’re committed to each other.” He paused to smile at Neil. “No matter what happens, you’ve got each other, just like I have Erik.” For a moment his gaze grew distance and his smile softer. “You don’t care about Andrew’s curse or living in a drafty old fortress, and Andrew doesn’t care about your… well, he doesn’t care what you gave up or any of your… uhm, any of that mess.” Nicky’s cheeks grew bright as he waved the knife in the air.

‘Mess’. That was one way of explaining the Moriyamas and Neil’s father and the inhuman heritage he’d gotten from the man. _Mess_ indeed.

“And Erik doesn’t care that I’m gone for part of the year to help out Andrew, that my parents- well, he doesn’t care about that stuff,” Nicky continued in a rush. “But Aaron’s worried about Katelyn because she’s from a good family, and while he’s decent at magic, he’s not the most powerful earth mage out there and hasn’t had any formal training. He doesn’t even know who his father is and there’s the thing with his mother.” Nicky glanced at the door leading to the main room and shook his head. “Uhm, yeah, he doesn’t think he’s the best prospect out there, and being gone for weeks at a time doesn’t help. So basically, he’s jealous, all right? He’s jealous and frustrated and it would be really great if we could break the curse sooner rather than later.”

In part because then Aaron would be able to prove his worth as a mage, but Neil didn’t say that out loud. Aaron had been working hard to help Andrew long before he’d met this ‘Katelyn’, so Neil knew she wasn’t the only motivation that Aaron had to help his brother, but he couldn’t understand why Aaron was jealous of Andrew when Andrew was stuck with such a powerful curse.

Nicky must have picked up on Neil’s doubts, because he gave him a thin smile and patted him on the left arm. “It’ll be all right; even if he feels a bit jealous, he’ll always be there for Andrew.”

“I guess I just don’t understand it,” Neil admitted. All there had ever been was his mother and father when he’d grown up – he knew his mother had her family, but he’d barely met them because of his father. “I don’t have any siblings, or dealt with much family other than my parents.”

“Well, now you have some more,” Nicky told him while giving him a quick hug. “We’re your family now.”

Neil still had a problem accepting that, accepting that people wanted him as family, and was grateful when Nicky changed the topic to ask about how Matt had been as a houseguest. Neil explained how the knight had fixed up the fort and Andrew had taken some small satisfaction in tormenting him while they prepared the simple meal, and soon enough they rejoined Andrew and Aaron back in the main hall so everyone could eat.

When it came time for the sun to set, Andrew left to retreat to their bedroom, and returned a short while later dressed in a black tunic and black leggings, and sat with Neil by the fire while drinking apple brandy with his cousin and brother. He didn’t stay there for very long or say much, but Neil knew it was his small way of showing his appreciation to his family for all of their hard work, and Neil saw the determination on Nicky’s and Aaron’s faces whenever they looked at Andrew in human form. He might not always understand the bonds between family, only knowing the twisted sense of over-protectiveness and love that his mother had for him, the cruelty and disdain that his father had shown, but there was something between the three young men even if Aaron and Andrew could barely be civil to each other at times and Nicky was stuck playing the eternal peacemaker.

Soon enough Andrew was nudging at Neil to get up and leave, so he wished their guests a good night and followed Andrew out of the large room, pausing only to clean up for the night before they retreated to their bed. Despite the nap earlier he was tired, and it felt good to curl up beneath the blankets with Andrew’s warm body behind him, to fall asleep once more with his lover near. When the curse resumed itself right before dawn, Neil sat tucked against Andrew’s dragon form for a little bit and then he made himself leave to start the day.

He managed to catch a couple of goats for some fresh milk before the others woke and Andrew once more fired up the ovens, and with Nicky’s help they had eggs and toast for breakfast while the sweet rolls rose to be baked later in the day. Andrew was in a good enough mood to heat up hot water for everyone, and Neil read to him while Nicky and Aaron explored the newly restored upper levels. There was some grumbling from Andrew about how his and Neil’s peace was interrupted when they’d just gotten it back, but Neil told him to be quiet; if things worked out like Nicky hoped, then Andrew wouldn’t be stuck in his dragon form for much longer. Maybe the curse would be broken before anyone hoping to claim a reward from Riko arrived at the fort.

Neil really should have known better to get his hopes up, considering how much Fate seemed to enjoy mucking up his life.

He’d just pulled the sweet buns out of the oven and had an impatient dragon nudging him in the back to get out of the way when he felt a familiar pulse of… of _something_ that twisted up his insides, right before the wards took a powerful hit. Sweet buns forgotten, he spun around to run outside, Andrew a golden streak in front of him while he heard Nicky and Aaron call out from deeper inside of the fort.

“What was that?”

“Was that magic?”

“Stay behind the wards,” Neil yelled at them before he ran out of the kitchen, while Andrew roared out a challenge to whomever it was who dared to threaten his home. There was another powerful blast of magic, and all of a sudden Neil knew. He just _knew_.

He stumbled out into the courtyard to find his father striding across the clearing in front of the wards, a cruel smile on his broad face and auburn hair glinting in the afternoon’s sunlight, dressed in clothes the color of a brown so dark they almost appeared black with gold accents, save for the black and red badge on his upper left chest. Flanking him were Lola and Romero Malcom, a fire and earth mage respectively, and both almost as vicious and sadistic as Nathan Wesninski even if they lacked demon blood.

“Andrew, don’t!” Neil called out as his lover rose into the sky. “That’s my father!” The warning came just in time for Andrew to dodge a silver blast of power that made Neil’s bones ache.

/Wonderful, the in-laws came for a visit,/ Andrew said as he returned behind the wards in a protective position near Neil, just as Nicky and Aaron tumbled out into the courtyard.

“Hello, Junior,” Nathan called out, his deep voice almost friendly – except Neil knew better. He knew about that smile and the gleam in those icy blue eyes, the eyes he hated seeing reflected back in the mirror at himself. “What’s this I hear about you engaging in unnatural acts with beasts?”

/You’re mistaken, he has nothing to do with Riko Moriyama,/ Andrew retorted as his left wing curled around Neil.

“Oh, how funny.” Nathan’s smile grew even crueler as he eyed Andrew for a couple of seconds. “I’d almost give my blessing since a dragon’s not too bad, Junior, but you’re breaking my word.” The smile slipped away as his eyes bled to pure silver. “You don’t make a demon break his word, son. I promised Kengo that Riko would have you, and that I’d cripple you if you ran again.”

“What the fuck,” Nicky muttered from somewhere behind Neil.

“ _You_ promised,” Neil said as he summoned his magic, as the world hazed over with silver. “I never did, so I don’t give a damn.”

Nathan laughed at that, the sound so harsh that it wasn’t human. “Oh Junior, you have her spunk, I’ll give you that. I’d rip your heart out, too, but you’re not mine to break. Instead, I’ll take the dragon’s and make you eat some of it.”

“ _Fuck you_ ,” Neil spat while Andrew roared in rage, and he had to throw out his arms to keep Nicky from charging past him. “Stay behind the wards! He wants us to go past them, dammit!”

That earned him an evil smile from his father while Nathan motioned to Romero. “Batter them down. I want to be off this mountain by sundown.”

“Yes, sir.” Romero stepped forward with his fists raised high, the air shimmering around them as he called forth his magic, and Lola laughed in anticipation of what was to come.

“Let me play with the other two,” she asked Nathan, and smiled when he nodded.

Neil braced himself for the attack on the wards, and stroked Andrew’s side when the magic hit. “Don’t, not yet,” he told his lover, then moaned when he felt Romero smash at the wards – felt the spike of pain yet grinned as the wards lashed back, as his magic surged forth in a powerful burst to eat away at Romero’s magic and eventually him.

“Romero!” Lola cried out when she realized what was happening, and jumped forward to pull her brother from the wards while Neil did his best not to fall to his knees. She added her magic to the mix to try to ‘burn’ off the ward’s attack spell, literally and figuratively, while Neil turned that cruel, mocking smile back at his father.

“Not bad,” Nathan taunted while he stepped forward, silver aether forming around his hands. “The bitch taught you a few tricks, it seems. But that’s not going to hold against me for much longer, so come out now and I’ll make your friends’ death quick.”

Neil should have known it was only a matter of time before Andrew's dragon nature won out, and a threat like that finally pushed it too far- before he could urge his lover to remain calm, to remain behind the damn ward, Andrew let out another enraged roar and leapt into the air. "No, _dammit_ ," Neil cursed as he poured more magic into the wards, and then had to yell at the other two idiots. "No, stay behind the wards!"

"But Andrew-"

"Is a fucking _dragon_ ," Neil reminded Nicky, then moaned as his father let loose a blast of destructive magic against the wards before turning his attention back to Andrew.

At least the fool had the last two years of his mock fights with Neil to help him deal with the destructive aether magic, that and his dragon body, as he twisted about in the air and used his own powerful fire magic to block what he could of Nathan's spells. Meanwhile, Neil had to deal with Lola, who wanted revenge for a badly hurt Romero and seemed to have figured out a way to get around the wards’ traps; it had probably been too much to hope that he could hold her off for very long, considering that she'd known his mother. His magic divided between maintaining the wards and fending her off kept him too busy to go on the offensive, but Nicky and Aaron joined the fight so that evened things out despite her being so powerful.

The mountain around them was being torn up from the destructive spells lobbed about almost without care, with Nicky's winds whipping around in an attempt to drive back Lola and Nathan, with the trembles and cracks in the ground as Aaron sought to distract them by knocking them off-balance. Only the recent rainy weather kept the forest from being set on fire, that and there wasn't _much_ of a forest left between Nathan and Neil's spells crumbling or blowing up so much of the surrounding rock and trees.

Andrew's loud, rage-filled roars were deafening, yet Nathan's cruel chuckles could still be easily heard whenever one of his spells managed to crack through those golden scales. "Dragon's heart is a delicacy, Junior. It'll make your demon blood even stronger."

"Go... back to _hell_ ," Neil told his father as he struggled to maintain the wards, to maintain the defense that kept his home, his friends safe. "Oh, wait... they don't even want you... there."

"Someone's gotten mouthy," Lola chided as she used the charmed iron knife in her right hand to attack the wards, and almost broke through before Neil send a blast of aether to knock her back a few feet. "I will _burn_ you for that," she hissed.

Meanwhile, Andrew had picked up part of a fallen tree and thrown it at Nathan, making him curse as he barely disintegrated it in time. "This is taking too long, I swore to Riko that I'd have you back to him, broken and docile, by nightfall."

Panic washed through Neil upon hearing that, at the thought that Riko might be close by, at least until Aaron knocked into his left shoulder. "The wards!" He shook his head and sent another spurt of magic, along with a gust of wind from Nicky, to knock Lola back again.

While they focused on defending the wards from her assault, Nathan's father took to chanting something, his power once more forming around his hands, while Lola backed away from the wards to counter a blast of fire from Andrew. Neil watched on for a moment, puzzled by his father's actions.

"What are they doing?" Aaron asked, apparently just as confused.

"I don't know." Neil had never seen his father do anything like that before - but then he'd spent half his life running from the man. "Andrew! _Andrew_!" He tried to get his lover's attention, but the dragon part of him had taken over.

Andrew let out another furious roar then a plume of fire that Lola struggled to block, right before Nathan's smile took on a too-pleased curve and he unleashed the spell. "Oh well, no dragon heart today, but I'll still make you eat it, Junior," he called out as the cloud of silver mist enveloped Andrew, as Neil watched on in horror as Andrew writhed in what appeared to be pain, as the golden body began to contort and shrink as it fell through the air.

" _Nicky_!" Aaron shouted. "Catch him!"

Nicky started in shock and then gestured with his power as Andrew's now human form plunged to the earth, while Neil went running through the wards toward his lover without a care for himself. He felt a tingle of power as he crossed them, and then Lola was waiting for him, the iron knife in her hand and smile just as sharp. He pulled the blade from his belt which he used for hunting and focused his power around it, put all of his hatred for the woman and fear for Andrew into the magic, and used that to counter the attack, to do his best to fend her off while he attempted to get to his lover. To Andrew. To _Andrew,_ who was kneeling on the ground, naked and bleeding from several wounds as Nathan stalked over to him, a knife held in his own right hand and that cruel smile on his face.

"No!" Neil shouted as he struggled to get past Lola, earning a burning cut along his right arm as he stared after his father, and then he felt a familiar tug in the center of his chest, a pull at his fast-depleting reserves of magic. It was the only warning he had before Andrew lifted his head, hazel eyes almost lost beneath the glow of red and silver, and let loose a mix of fire and aether magic that almost consumed Nathan Wesninski.

Neil felt the darkness of magic depletion threaten to overwhelm him, felt his vision fade out even as pain sliced along the right side of his face before Lola screamed about something, and then he was falling down onto the damp earth as he struggled to breathe, to choke out Andrew's name. Someone tugged at his shoulders and he didn't have any energy left to fight, to lash out with fists or knife or magic, and only seeing that it was Nicky made him stop trying. He wanted to ask about Andrew, to find out what was going on, but the exhaustion won out and everything went away except the darkness.

Neil became aware that he was lying on something uncomfortable, something uneven and that was moving. Also, there was noise. There was the sound of... it was horses' hooves striking dirt and the creaking of wood and people's voices, were sounds he knew from traveling with his mother. Where was his mother?

He attempted to feel around for her, for the thin, tense form which had never been far from his own, the familiar thrum of her magic which had always filled his senses, but could barely move his arms.

"Shh."

That voice. Memories began to flood Neil's mind, to burn through his dulled senses at Andrew's voice - his father, Lola, the fight, the spell to revert Andrew back to human form during daylight, Andrew using both of their magic to attack his father and then Neil losing consciousness. He struggled to open his eyes and found Andrew, still in human form, leaning over him. His lover's face was expressionless but his hands gentle as they brushed back the hair falling onto Neil's forehead.

They seemed to be in the back of a cart - Neil thought it was the one that Nicky and Aaron used to bring the supplies to them. Andrew was dressed in his black clothes with a cloak loosely draped over his shoulders, and Neil in a different outfit than he'd worn the day of the fight. "Wha-" he could barely speak, his throat was so dry and he felt so weak. What had happened? Why was he so tired and where had all his magic gone?

Andrew reached down beside him to pick up a small flask, then lifted Neil's head enough so he could drink from it. "We left the fort," he explained once Neil had a few sips. "That woman managed to drag your father and the other guy away while Aaron tended to the two of us, but we didn't stick around for very long since Nicky said that the prick mentioned Riko." He reached out to touch the right side of Neil's face; Neil managed to lift his hand that much and felt a faint seam running down near his ear.

"But... how?" He fumbled for Andrew's fingers. "You're _you_." He hated how weak he felt, how clouded his thoughts were just then.

"The prick did something to twist the curse," Andrew told Neil. "I can still feel the dragon, he's not gone." He touched his chest with his other hand while his eyes glowed for a moment, while Neil felt a strong tug on the tiny bit of magic still within in him. "Your father's spell pulled me back, and now it seems that your magic is keeping me here."

"Ah." No wonder Neil felt so weak. "It’s all gone."

"Well, that and I've been casting illusions so Riko's and the prick's people can't find us. Took me a little time to figure it out." He brushed his thumb over Neil's right cheekbone then combed his fingers through Neil's hair. "You've been mostly out of it for a couple of days."

"Ah," Neil repeated, feeling the urge to sleep again despite wanting to talk some more with Andrew. Then something occurred to him. "Where we going?"

Andrew hesitated for a moment. "Palmetto."

"Oh." Neil turned his head into his lover’s touch and tried to say something else, but it came out mumbled. He'd just closed his eyes when Andrew pulled him upright, much to his displeasure, and made him drink more water and eat some dried fruit soaked in water before they stopped for a break.

Neil didn't remember much after that - there were flashes of Andrew waking him up to take care of him, to haul him out of the wagon and force some water or tea and food down his throat. One day he woke up to the feel of a warm breeze against his skin, the canvas flaps of the cart tucked aside to air out the back, and groaned as he tried to sit up.

"It's alive," Nicky's voice called out, and Neil blinked when Andrew appeared in his sight to help him sit up.

"Where-?" he coughed a little and smiled when his lover handed him the flask of water.

"We crossed into Palmetto last night," Andrew told him, still expressionless but posture relaxed as he sank down on the pile of bags next to Neil; it looked as if things had been shoved into various sacks and then thrown into the back of the cart, which explained why Neil's 'bed' was so lumpy. "No sign of any Moriyamas, so I relaxed the illusion spells."

That explained why Neil felt a bit better. "Okay. How much longer until we reach the court?" He assumed that they were aiming for the Foxhole Court, since Matt and Renee had told them that they'd be safe there.

"Perhaps two more days." Andrew took back the flask and handed Neil some soft bread. "I'm already sick of seeing white and orange."

"Poor you." Neil summoned a weak smile, and then studied his lover for a moment while he held onto the bread; he'd never really seen Andrew in the sunlight, it occurred to him. Seen the way that his lover's pale blond hair glittered in the light, the faint dusting of freckles on skin that now was reddened from exposure to sun after years of only candlelight or flame.

"You're staring," Andrew chided as he tapped his fingers on Neil's right hand. "Eat."

Neil smiled a little more then did as he'd been told, and felt better afterward. He doubted that he could cast a spell to fend off a half-starved mouse, but he still felt better, especially when Andrew allowed Neil to lean against him while they sat in the back of the cart. It wasn't the same as him curling against his lover in dragon form, but Andrew was still so warm and his magic was still the same.

It had been years since Neil had been in Palmetto, having spent a few months in the kingdom when on the run with his mother. He remembered it for the warm fall months and the friendliness of its people, which was why they hadn't spent very long there - his mother preferred places where people minded their own business and didn't ask many questions. After living the last two years up in the mountains, it was odd to see so much flat land around him, and so many unfamiliar people.

He drifted in and out of sleep but it was better than it had been for the last seventeen or so that it had taken the four of them to flee the old fort. Andrew didn't have to force him to wake up to eat, and he could keep whoever was on watch at the time when he woke up company since his sleep schedule was so messed up.

The first watch was Nicky, who appeared relieved to have someone to talk to while Andrew and Aaron slept in the wagon. "So, that was your dad, huh?"

"Yeah." Neil shivered a little and hugged his cloak tighter around him, even though it wasn't that cold of a night.

Nicky caught that and frowned. "Sorry, guess you don't like talking about him much, do you?"

"Not really." Neil frowned as well then shook his head. "There's nothing good to say about him." He hoped that Andrew had done some real damage to the bastard, but demon blood made one strong. Neil had survived an awful lot because of his, after all.

"I get that impression." Nicky glanced back at the wagon. "But he did some good, with Andrew."

Had he? The curse wasn't broken, just... dormant, sort of, and draining Neil of his magic. Neil wasn't certain if that had been an intended side-effect or what, and hoped that someone in Palmetto knew how to stop it. But would that make the curse resume? If so, he could do without his magic if it meant that Andrew remained human, in the end. It left them weaker, but it was a small price to pay.

"It's going to be weird, not heading up to the mountains every few weeks," Nicky continued. "It was good exercise."

Neil hugged his knees tighter to his chest. "We'll figure out how to get back there." He'd never had a home before Andrew, and he was unwilling to allow his father to drive him from the sanctuary he'd found in the old fortress. While all that really mattered in the end was that he still had Andrew, he suspected that they'd be happiest up in the mountains and away from everyone else.

Nicky talked about going back to Erik once Neil and Andrew were safe, about how he looked forward to spending the summer at home with his lover for once and how they could finally have that wedding they'd been putting off forever. Neil did his best to stay awake during everything, until it was Aaron's turn at watch and then he went to lie down next to Andrew.

Since they were approaching the court the next day, Andrew placed a light illusion over the wagon, just enough to change the color of the horses and the canvas in an attempt to throw off anyone following them. Neil suffered through the increased drain on his magic, telling himself that it was only for a little longer, that they would be all right once they reached the court. He wrapped himself up in his cloak against the chill that settled in his bones from the hollowness inside where his magic used to be and lay in the back of the cart with Andrew sitting beside him, his fingers stroking through Neil’s hair as he watched out over the road, over the people riding near them.

“What... how’s the dragon?” Neil asked as he struggled to not close his eyes.

“Uneasy,” Andrew told him, his fingers in constant motion, along with his eyes, though he otherwise sat still. “Angry. He’s not happy right now.”

“Hmm.” Neil shivered a little and then smiled when he felt Andrew’s magic heat up the back of the cart. He felt so warm and tired just then, and safe with Andrew watching over him that he didn’t see any reason why he should struggle to stay awake. All he had to do was close his eyes and he’d wake up in the Foxhole Court.

Except when he felt the cart jolt to a stop and send him rolling into the wooden frame, it _wasn’t_ the Foxhole Court. They were still on the road from what he could tell and it was still daylight, and instead of white and orange, the people around them were wearing black and red.

Funny, how panic and anger could clear one’s head in a hurry, could provide a nice dose of adrenalin despite all the bone-deep exhaustion. Neil found himself scrambling to stand up in the back of the cart and Andrew, Nicky and Aaron already out on the road facing off against the Moriyama knights.

“Stay there,” Andrew snapped at him. “What are you going to do, fall down and trip them?”

“Uhm, if that’ll work, why not?” Neil offered as he fumbled his way to the end of the cart.

“Hello Nathaniel,” one of the knights called out – Neil recognized him as Alexei and shivered a little as he remembered the way that the water elemental had tormented him back at the Raven’s Nest, would weaken him with dehydration and drive him to distraction with the need for water – water that only Riko would provide. “We’re here to take you home.”

“Fuck off,” Neil told him while he desperately wished for his own talent just then, for the ability to blow a crater in the bastard’s chest. “Oh, and die.”

“Still feisty, I see.” Alexei smiled at that, while on his left side, Ralf frowned in disproval and flexed his hands, which made tiny whirlwinds burst into life near his feet, and on his right Louis created a ring of fire around them to seal off anyone who might want to ‘interrupt’ things. “That’ll make it an entertaining journey back to Evermore.” He tapped the iron manacles hanging from his belt, manacles which Neil knew were charmed to seal away his power.

“You’re assuming that you’re going to be alive for that journey,” Andrew said.

“One of us most certainly won’t be,” Alexei stated as he stepped forward. “Wesninski might have failed in retrieving Nathaniel, like he promised, but he did make things a lot easier for the rest of us. Funny, Minyard, I thought you were supposed to be a… _bigger_ challenge than this.”

“Size jokes, what an asshole,” Nicky muttered. “I’m not going to be sick when you burn him to a crisp, I promise.”

“Like I care,” Andrew said as flames burst into life around his hands. “And what did I say?” Neil assumed that was directed at him, since he was inching down from the cart. “Sit the fuck down.”

“But-“

“ _Stay_.”

“Asshole,” Neil mumbled at the tyrant even as his legs wobbled beneath him and he sank down to sit on the edge of the cart; Nicky flashed him a quick grin before focusing his attention back on the three knights.

It was then that Louis attacked, casting flames Nicky’s way while he was still a bit distracted, but Andrew diverted them in time – them and the burst of steam from Alexei. Nicky and Aaron did their best to help, but they weren’t as powerful as the Moriyama knights so most of the fighting was left to Andrew, while Neil did what he could by throwing whatever items he could find in the cart that would work as a distraction. It was a bit satisfying to see Ralf falter in casting a spell because half a wheel of cheese hit him in in the head, except then Louis got a jet of wind past Nicky that slammed into Neil hard enough to knock the breath out of him and leave him gasping for air.

“Neil!” Nicky was distracted by that, which left him open to Ralf for a moment, at least until Aaron kicked up enough dirt to smother the flames that licked at his cousin, but the effort had cost the earth mage. In fact, the battle was costing both of them, and Andrew’s expression was showing the strain of fighting as well, of facing off against three elemental mages almost as powerful as him.

“Come here and we’ll spare the other two,” Alexei called out to Neil. “We only need to bring back you and Minyard’s head.”

“Really,” Neil wheezed as he huddled over his sore ribs – sore ribs and sore back, considering that he’d been knocked into the other end of the cart. “What part of… ‘go fuck... yourself’-“ He gave up and shook his head as he desperately reached for some spark of magic inside, something that would allow him to blow off _Alexei’s_ head. _Anything_. Just some small spell to even the odds right then.

The water mage laughed as if amused. “You brought this upon yourself, Nathaniel.” He flung out his right hand and Aaron cried out in pain as he fell to his knees. “I suppose it’s best to bring both of their heads, just in case. Wouldn’t want to risk killing the wrong one when Riko needs you unbound for your pending wedding.”

Andrew’s face twisted in rage as the air grew hot around them, and Neil moaned as there was another ‘tug’ at his chest, at the almost non-existent magic inside of him. Just when he felt as if he was going to black out, the sensation eased… and a loud roar poured forth from Andrew’s mouth. A loud, enraged roar which made the three knights gawk at him in confusion, right before a golden shimmer formed around his body.

Nicky swore beneath his breath and dragged a trembling Aaron out of the way, right before the curse returned, along with Andrew’s dragon form, and suddenly it wasn’t such an uneven fight even if it was three against one. Not when it was three stunned knights against a furious dragon, though Neil saw the fight at a bit of a distance as the horses panicked and started galloping away, Ralf’s ring of fire sputtering out after a couple of seconds (he thought Andrew’s tail lashing out might have had something to do with it).

Neil struggled to turn around and lean over the front of the cart to grab the reins so he could slow the horses down, and nearly got jolted out of the cart by the thing bouncing around before they stopped. He managed to climb onto the front seat and turn the damn thing around, and by the time he returned to the others, found Aaron leaning against Nicky while they looked up at still irate Andrew, who was smothering an unconscious Alexei with one paw.

“Ah, what happened?” Neil asked as he slumped forward, exhausted and sore and wanting nothing more than to lie down in the back of the cart to sleep for the next few days.

“Thank Luna you’re all right,” Nicky said while he helped Aaron over to the cart. Andrew attempted to come over as well, but the horses weren’t pleased with his presence.

/They won’t bother us anymore,/ he said as he slapped his paw down on Alexei, which prompted a pained wheeze from the knight.

Neil really, really wondered what all he’d done wrong in his life for Fate to hate him so much. “The others?” he asked as he rubbed at his face, too tired to speak more than a couple of words at a time.

“One ran away and the other… well, Andrew sort of flung him,” Nicky explained as he waved his hand in the direction of what looked to be a field of wheat, “over there.”

Wonderful. Neil should probably care about that, but Ralf and Louis were bastards who would have killed people he cared about and dragged him back to Riko. “Sorry,” he told his lover as he looked at Andrew and fumbled his way off of the cart to go to him; even if it was because of his father and had cost him so much magic, it had been worth it for Andrew to be somewhat free of the curse. Though some small part of Neil had to admit that he’d missed the dragon, just a little.

Andrew huffed at that and snaked his tail over to help steady Neil before he fell down. /Don’t be./ He cocked his head to the side as he seemed to think about something. /I… hmm. Get some rest./

Neil frowned at that. “Huh?”

/Get some rest,/ Andrew repeated as he picked up Neil and put him in the back of the cart, which made the horses shift about in their harnesses. /Now let’s go before some more shit happens./

Neil wanted to argue about that, how Andrew made it sound like that would be his fault, but he was tired and sore and they probably should leave before more of Riko’s people showed up. He made himself as comfortable as he could while Andrew took to the air.

They stopped at night a safe distance off the road to rest the horses and to have a meal, and Neil worried when Andrew didn’t revert back to his human form. Neil and Nicky and Aaron, who finally had recovered from what Alexei had done to him, thanks to his healing ability, but oddly enough not Andrew. He refused to talk about the curse and why he wasn’t changing, why he might be stuck in dragon form, to talk about much at all other than to tell Neil to get more rest and that he’d keep watch over the three of them.

Neil grabbed his and Andrew’s cloak and left Nicky and Aaron to sleep in the cart while he went to curl up next to Andrew, just like he’d done so many times in the past. Andrew watched him spread the cloaks out on the ground then lay against him before draping his left wing over Neil, and Neil hummed a little at the familiar comfort despite his various aches and being so far from the fort. Despite being driven from the home he’d found there because of his father and Riko, because he still had this, he still had Andrew.

/What will you do if this is permanent?/ Andrew asked as Neil closed his eyes, content to listen to the sound of his lover’s heartbeat.

“Figure out a way to make you help me with the laundry,” Neil told the lazy tyrant. “Not gonna be stuck doing it forever.”

Andrew’s wing tightened around him. /Good luck with that./

“Gonna be… next vows,” Neil mumbled before he fell asleep.

Andrew woke him at sunrise so they could get back on the road, and Neil was heartened to notice that his magic had replenished the tiniest amount during the night. Since Andrew was back in dragon form and they were close to the Foxhole Court, they didn’t bother with an illusion spell, either, so Neil was awake for the last part of the journey.

There were no knights from Evermore that day, but a few from Palmetto showed up to escort them to the court – some familiar faces.

“You couldn’t stay away, could you?” Matt called out as he came riding up to the cart. His grin slipped when he came close enough to catch a good look at Neil, at the healed scar on the side of his face and how worn he must appear, at how worn he knew Nicky and Aaron to appear. “Dargo’s balls, but you guys look like-“

“We’re glad that you’ve come to us, but we’re sorry it’s under these circumstances,” Renee said as she drew close on a pale grey mare. “Whatever you need, we’ll provide for you once we reach the Court.” Behind her was Dan, who nodded in agreement, and a knight with long blonde hair pulled back in a braid who was staring up at the sky, where Andrew was circling above.

“A damn dragon,” the unknown knight said in a cultured accent which put her from the kingdom of Antilles. “Is he going to come down so I can hear him speak?”

“Not for your amusement,” Neil snapped, unwilling to allow his lover to be treated like that.

The knight arched an elegant eyebrow at him while Renee frowned in disapproval. "I thought he was looking after you, not the other way around."

"We look after each other," Neil stated as Andrew swooped low through the air, enough to stir up some dirt and make the knight's bangs fly back into her blue eyes while Renee and Matt waved at him, smiles on their faces. As for Dan, she just muttered about show-offs and swiped at dust that had been kicked up into the air.

"Whatever," the knight said as she spun her horse around. "Just keep a tight rein on your monster while you're at Court." She rode off in the direction the knights had come from, with Renee chiding her about manners.

So that was Allison Reynolds of the Antilles Reynolds, one of the wealthiest families in all of the kingdoms - or she used to be, before she spurned the arranged marriage her parents had tried to force her into and run away, making her way to the Foxhole Court where she'd been accepted as a knight. From what Neil knew, she was good with a rapier and a pretty decent brawler despite her wealthy background.

"Allison's... well, she takes a bit getting used to," Matt said as he rode alongside the cart so he could talk to Neil. "We heard about the fight yesterday, about the Moriyamas sending their people after someone." Anger flashed across his face for a moment. "Had a feeling it might be related to you, and knew for certain when we heard about Andrew."

"Riko sent my father to bring me back," Neil explained, not wanting to get into too many details just then. "We," well, Andrew, really, but Neil couldn't argue with the logic, "figured it was best to leave the fort for the time being."

Matt nodded in agreement. "You'll be safe here, I promise." Beside him, Dan nodded as well. "We'll figure something out, you'll see. Betsy and Renee have been looking into Andrew's curse all winter long."

"Great." Their help would be needed, considering everything that had happened in the last couple of weeks. When Matt gave him a worried look, probably for Neil's lack of enthusiasm, he summoned a weak smile. "It's been a long journey to get here." And he'd been unconscious for most of it.

"I can imagine." Matt reached out to tousle Neil's hair then rode forward a little to chat with Nicky, who was always eager for attention, while Dan hung back for a few more seconds as if to make sure that Neil was alright before joining her boyfriend.

The Foxhole Court wasn't as big as the Raven's Nest, nor as impressive; it was a newer palace that had been built more for functionality and defense than grandeur, in light grey stone that looked almost white when the sun struck it just right, and orange clay bricks for accent around the windows and entrances. It was four stories high and festooned with the white and orange banners of Palmetto bearing the orange fox paw herald of the court, and Neil could easily spot the sentries with the training drilled into him from both his father and his mother. He could also sense the wards and various spells cast for the castle's protection when he crossed them, mentally marking them down from an old habit, even if he didn't have much energy to do anything about them at the moment. His father had taught him how to sum up a place's weakness, to know how to best break into it and break it down, while his mother had taught him how best to slip in and out of anywhere.

He wondered what it was like to just grow up as a child, to spend your days playing and pretending to be things like a baker or a knight or mage, whatever took your fancy at the moment. To feel safe and loved for what you were, not seen as an item that had been bartered away or a potential weakness that might get you killed.

They came to a halt outside the castle, where a tall man (compared to Neil) in his middle years stood, dark hair grizzled with a few flecks of grey and cut short, arms emblazoned with fire runes and clothes simple but of a good quality. Judging from the sigil on his chest and how the knights deferred to him, Neil took the man to be David Wymack, the master of the Foxhole Court, and the blonde woman at his side in the long, pale orange tunic over white leggings was probably Abigail Winfield, his consort. There was no mistaking Kevin Day on the other side of Wymack, even if he was wearing Palmetto colors instead of Evermore's black and red, and his sword was on the 'wrong' hip from what Neil remembered.

Wymack's dark eyes tracked Andrew’s lazy circles up in the sky and then when he landed on the ground next to the cart, then watched as Neil got out to go stand by his lover. "Don't have a dragon stop by every day," the man said, his deep voice tinged with amusement.

/Maybe try changing the color scheme,/ Andrew suggested. /It's making my eyes hurt./

Abigail hid a smile behind her hand while Kevin appeared offended, yet all Wymack did was give Andrew a flat look. "How nice to see that Dan didn't exaggerate about you."

"Yep," the knight called out as she leaned against the castle's wall near Wymack, her arms folded across her chest and a cheeky grin on her face. "He's going to be so fun to have around, isn't he?"

"Nathaniel, you really-"

"Neil, it's Neil now," Neil snapped at Kevin, having grown tired of hearing his old name so much lately. "And I really 'what'?" he asked his friend, having a feeling he already knew what Kevin was about to object to, considering the way that Kevin was glaring at Andrew.

"Don't tell me you really got handfasted with this creature! I know Riko's bad, but-"

"Don't," Neil told him, now angry for an entirely new reason. "You don't know what you're talking about, so shut up." Kevin may have helped him, but Kevin also never put up with anywhere near as much abuse from Riko as Neil had, at least until Riko had broken Kevin’s hand.

Kevin blinked at that, as if surprised that Neil was upset with him. "But-"

/I'd listen to him,/ Andrew suggested, while Nicky and Aaron appeared offended for his sake.

"But you're a _dragon_ ," Kevin continued, right before he got smoke blown in his face. While he coughed and wheezed, Allison went to lean against the wall near a chuckling Dan.

"He does have a point, you know. Where are we going to put the monster?"

"He's not a monster, stop calling him that," Neil told her while he hugged his cloak around him, wishing that he had enough magic to blast the smug expression off of her face.

"Ah, he's not going to be able to follow you all around the castle," Matt said with an apologetic smile. "The doors aren't big enough, or the hallways."

"Then put us in a spare barn for the night and we'll find someplace else to stay, rather than with a bunch of assholes." Neil glared as he shuffled closer to Andrew, and then blinked in surprise when Andrew's tail pushed him away. "What?"

/Amusing as it is to watch you in a snit, step aside./ Andrew gave him a mocking look for a moment until Neil stepped away, confused as to what his lover was about to do – maybe singe a couple of rude morons? If so, Neil wasn’t going to complain _too_ much.

Instead, he stood there gawking as a golden shimmer appeared around Andrew’s dragon form, as Matt and Nicky took to swearing, as Dan and Allison pushed away from the wall as if to get a better look at what was happening and Renee came over to stand next to Neil. “Hmm, looks like we won’t need that spell,” she told him as the golden shimmer coalesced around Andrew’s _human_ form. Andrew’s _naked_ human form.

Hearing Renee speak shook Neil from his astonishment and he stumbled forward while he yanked off his cloak so he could hand it to Andrew, who despite the lack of emotion on his face, Neil could tell the bastard was amused – it was the gleam in his hazel eyes. “But… _how_?”

“Yeah, did you break the curse?” Aaron asked as he came up on Andrew’s other side while his twin wrapped the cloak around himself.

Andrew shook his head. “No, it’s still there – the _dragon’s_ still there.” He paused to touch his hand to his chest while he looked at Neil. “But we’ve come to an… understanding, I guess you can say.”

“You both have something you want to protect,” Renee said as she once more came alongside Neil. “You’re working together now, instead of fighting for control.”

Andrew gave her a sour look, which she returned with a smile. “We’re not fighting.” He left it at that as he reached out a hand through the folds of the cloak and pulled Neil closer. “So, no barn,” he told Wymack. “Unless it’s got a better color scheme and then we’ll consider it.”

Neil rubbed at his forehead and wondered why he couldn’t pass out just _then_ , while Wymack sighed and gave Renee and Dan and displeased frown. “You just had to offer them sanctuary, didn’t you?” Then he winced when Abigail seemed to hit him in the ribs somehow. “But he-“

Abigail smiled at them while Matt choked back on a chuckle and Dan hid a grin behind her fist. “Let me properly welcome you to the Foxhole Court. The four of you appear exhausted and I’m sure you could use some a bath and some food, so let’s get you inside, all right? Dan and Matt, why don’t you take the horses off to the stables, while Allison, please go ask someone to prepare three rooms in the western wing?” The three knights nodded and ran off to do the woman’s bidding while Abigail motioned them forward. “Come, have something to eat while the rooms are readied.”

Renee slipped past them while giving Neil and Andrew another smile. “I’ll go find some clothes and be right back.”

“Thank you, Renee.” Abigail turned to enter the palace with Wymack and Kevin trailing along, Kevin glancing over his shoulder to give Neil a searching look as if trying to make sense out of something before he glanced away.

Neil paused to see what Andrew would do, then took a step forward when his lover sighed and nodded in the direction of the main entrance. “They better have some sweet bread,” Andrew murmured as he gave Neil a push, his hand steady on Neil’s shoulder as he followed him into the palace.

Nicky and Aaron were quick to take up the rear, Nicky’s excited voice going on about staying at an actual castle echoing about the stone entrance and Aaron chiding him to not act like an idiot. Neil pushed any doubts he had about being around strangers and in an unknown place aside since Andrew was beside him, Nicky and Aaron were at his back, and knew that they would face things together.

*******

**Author's Note:**

> *******  
> Yah! The Foxes! You've got all the Foxes now!!! Did you think I was just going to throw them one or two at a time up on that mountain? Andrew would have started throwing them back DOWN the mountain pretty soon, all crispy around the edges.
> 
> More on Kevin and everything in the next part. Couldn't put too much in this one, thought there was more than enough in it as it was.
> 
> And yeah, it's not quite sinking in to Neil yet, the whole 'handfasting' thing and him actually being MARRIED (even in a loose sense). It will, the next chapter. Oh boy.
> 
> As always, the comments and the kudos are appreciated!  
> *******


End file.
